A Guiding Light to Greatness
by The Leader of Monkeys
Summary: A veteran shinobi who had traveled around the Elemental Nations after resigning from his duties returned home & ran into the blond bundle of mischievousness. Not liking how Naruto got the short end of the stick despite being Konoha's weapon of mass destruction the retired shinobi takes Naruto under his wing. Just how strong will Naruto be with a guiding light showing him the way?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I don't need to, 'cause I'm the Leader of Monkeys, and monkeys rule the world. By that logic I rule the world. FEAR THE WRATH OF THE MONKEYS, BITCH!**

**Hehe. Joke.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**A Guiding Light to Greatness**

**Chapter One **

**No Sweat at All **

_In a village hidden by the leaves, widely known as the strongest village in the Elemental Nations, a tiny little orphaned boy wearing a orange t shirt, and black shorts reaching his knees was using the blue sandals neatly on his feet to scurry away from a group of ninja all ranked as chunin after letting off a stink bomb in the Academy, a place where all aspiring shinobi attend to learn what it meant to be a ninja!_

"_You ain't catchin' me ya losers!" Shouted the aforementioned spiky blond haired rascal with three whisker-marks each lined up on either side of his face. This blond bundle of trouble was known as Naruto Uzumaki, hated among his people for reasons he didn't know, but neither cared, because he spent the majority of his time pranking those that ignored him._

"_Get back here you trouble making brat!" One of the chunin ninjas chasing Naruto shouted at the boy. _

_The boy chortled loudly in response to the ninja's demand. How he just loved to play pranks, and make a nuisance of himself. It was the only thing he could do with little to no friends to hang around with. At least he had the Hokage's support, but since the old man was the leader of this village he didn't exactly have a lot of time to spare for the blond bundle of mischievousness, hence he had to make his own_ _entertainment._

_That was by pulling pranks to annoy the ones who blanked him like he didn't even exist. Well he would show them that he did exist and he was very much alive, dattebayo!_

_But of course being up against ninjas when he himself was only seven year old, the experience of the opponents he was facing was bound to avail no matter how long the chase went on for. To the boy, it was more like a challenge to see how long he could last without getting caught. _

_As the boy kept on running, he eventually ran head first into a solid object, the force stopping his momentum and sending it right back at him. The end result was him on his rear-end with a pout of annoyance written all over his adorable face. _

_The boy looked up, finding out the solid object he ran into was a leg belonging to someone while the ninja chasing him each breathed sighs of relief that they'd finally caught up to the boy, "Hey, watch where you're going bub!" The fox boy rudely demanded of the person he had run into, while the man giggled creepily to himself, 'What's up with this guy? He's acting like one of those old-farts reading those boring orange books?'_

"_Gotcha brat!" The blond-boy cringed as a firm hand landed on his shoulder, "Did ya think you could outrun us for long, huh?"_

_As the ninja dragged the boy up to his feet, a look of annoyance was seen on the blond-boy's face, "Well I would've done so if it wasn't for this old fart!"_

_One of the ninjas looked at the old man who had his back turned to them, "Sorry for the disturbance sir. This brat's been causing trouble for the whole village lately," The whiskered-faced kid sulked angrily while the ninja bowed to the old man, "C'mon boy, your punishment waits!"_

_Just as the ninjas began pulling young Naruto away whilst he struggled in vain to free himself, they were halted by an old croaky voice, "Now hang on now, sunny. Where do ya think you're taking him?" The ninjas turned curious glances to the old man while Naruto tilted his head to the side._

_A look of realization was seen on the ninjas' faces once the old man turned to face them. His posture was hunched over with a wooden stick in his right grip, and his left arm was folded behind his back like an old man on his last pair of legs. Conveniently, the old man let out a violent cough as if to display how close he was to dying with saliva coming out of his mouth. The ninjas looked alarmed while Naruto grimaced at the gross old man. The old man merely patted his chest and flashed the younger men and boy a reassuring smile. _

_He had an oval-shaped face, three liver-spots on his temple, and his skin was tanned. His short white hair was on the verge of falling out completely. He had a long white beard, a long white moustache, and a pair of round glasses over his onyx coloured eyes. His attire consisted of a green dragon-patterned kimono, a pair of red pants, an orange obi tied around his wrist, and Chinese shoes on his feet. _

"_Hey, aren't you Yoshirou, the man who worked alongside the Nidaime hokage?" The ninjas gaped at the old man while Naruto had a puzzled look on his face. Their gawks were only enhanced by a humble smile from the old man identified as Yoshirou._

"_I heard you'd left the village years ago after resigning as a ninja." Another ninja spoke up, still in awe at the old man before them as if he was a messiah. _

"_Oh but of course sunny, I only got back a few days ago." Yoshirou abruptly turned his head to Naruto, confusing the boy who watched the old man sauntered toward him and gently grab his hand, "I actually came back to visit my grandson."_

_The ninjas' eyes went wide with shock while Naruto had a deadpan look written all over his face. Who the heck was this guy? And why was he saying he was Naruto's grandfather? Naruto was sure that he was a lonely child. He was told that his parents died honourably defending the village of Konoha against the monstrous fox of which attacked it seven years ago on Naruto's birthday. _

"_Y-You mean you're this brat's grandfather, Yoshirou-san?" The ninja asked to which Yoshirou nodded his head. The three of them all looked down at Naruto who hadn't taken his eyes off of Yoshirou. _

_Yoshirou calmly disconnected the chunin's hand off of Naruto's, pulling the boy to his side like he was meant to be there, "So gentleman as you can see I'm responsible for this little rascal here. I hope that isn't a problem." A look of amazement came over Naruto's face. He couldn't believe his luck. For once someone was actually helping him, not only helping him but acknowledging his presence!_

"_Oh yes!" One of the chunins sputtered involuntarily, too shocked that Yoshirou Nagano was related to the demon-boy, "I think you ought to know that your grandson let off stink bombs in the academy, Yoshirou-senpei." Naruto stuck his tongue out at him which made him fume. _

"_Okay, I'll have a word with him." Naruto instantly paled at that. Surely the old man wasn't going to lecture him. After all, for intents and purposes, he didn't even know the geezer. _

_One of the chunin-instructors gave Naruto a smirk seeing the panicked look on his face before bowing to Yoshirou, "Okay, we'll leave him in your capable hands, sir." The chunin stood up, receiving a wave of appreciation from Yoshirou while he looked around the area where he'd ran into Yoshirou. He grew incredulous seeing the building of only the civilians of the opposite sex to him enter._

_The sign only confirmed their location, 'Strange. What would Yoshirou-senpei be doing outside of the women's hot springs?' After a moment or two, the chunin shrugged along with his companions. Sparing Yoshirou one last bow, the three chunin left him and his supposed 'grandson' alone. _

"_What's the dealio you old fart? You ain't my grandpa!" Naruto said once the academy instructors were far enough away from them. _

_Yoshirou let out a good-natured belly laugh, "Well you're quite the disorderly one aren't ya sunny-boy? And here I thought you'd be much more appreciative of the one who saved you from a time-out." He shot a knowing look at Naruto, making the boy sheepishly rub the back of his head. _

"_Oh, yeah, I guess I owe you my thanks old man. Hehe." Naruto giggled. _

"_Think nothing of it child." Yoshirou dismissed it kindly, walking over the bridge and away from the heavenly place known as the women's hot springs, a set of binoculars in his hand which Naruto took notice of. Why would the old geezer want binoculars for? There was nothing interesting out here unless one counted the females, but Naruto wasn't into girls yet._

"_Huh?" Naruto blinked before running after the old man, "Hey, wait a minute old man!" Yoshirou looked curiously at Naruto once the boy caught up to him, "Why'd you decide to help me out back there?"_

"_Hm? What an unusual question to ask." Yoshirou said, walking forward with his stick tapping the ground. _

"_It's not an unusual question you old geezer!" Naruto shouted and Yoshirou laughed wholeheartedly. _

"_Well I think so, sunny. It's common nature of a human to want to assist another human out." Yoshirou told him. _

"_Well no one wants to help me out." Naruto resorted, a frown on his face. Yoshirou turned his head downward to look at the boy curiously. _

"_Why do you say that sunny?" Yoshirou asked. _

"_No one ever acknowledges me. I don't even get so much as a passing glance sometimes." Naruto whispered, his head lowered with a saddened look on his face. Yoshirou hummed in contemplation, a expression betraying none of his thoughts on his face, "I don't even have any parents. The old geezer up in the tower said they died after I was born."_

'_Looks like Hiruzen-sama's law didn't prevent the boy from suffering from loneliness.' Yoshirou mused with a sigh coming from his lips, "What about friends, sunny? Don't you have any friends?"_

_Naruto shook his head sadly, "No. It's almost like they're scare of me for some reason. I dunno why. I tried to make friends by defending this purple haired girl from three bullies picking on her, but they pummelled me into submission before the girl's relative came and shooed them away. I didn't even get a thank you for trying to protect her. He just took her, and left me bruised and beaten on the floor."_

_Yoshirou mentally sighed, he figured the people of Konoha would shy away from the boy, but to go as far as to influence their children to stay away from Naruto was a step too far in his book. _

_Yoshirou stopped completely, causing Naruto to look up at him in curiosity, seeing the old man's hand coming downward to his level where it sat itself on his shoulder, "What's your name sunny-boy?"_

"_Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto introduced himself._

"_Awww. That's a nice name." Yoshirou complimented the boy, and Naruto grinned bashfully, "As for my name you may call me Yoshirou_ _Nagano if you want to." _

"_Okay, but I'll stick to old fart or old geezer for now. Maybe old man if you're lucky," Naruto smiled in a cheeky manner, causing Yoshirou to laugh. What a boisterous and brash young boy he was. He didn't have any respect for the authorities or his superiors by the looks of it. _

"_You know what sunny? I'm a little hungry. Care to join me for a bowl of ramen. It's on me." Yoshirou offered._

_Naruto's eyes lit up, "You mean it?"_

_Yoshirou smiled at the boy, "Absolutely."_

"_Hurray!" Naruto chirped uproariously, waving his arms up in the air, "Ramen's my favourite meal of all time old man! You're the best old geezer for offering to buy me ramen ever!"_

_Yoshirou chuckled, "Well it'd seem like I've picked a good place to eat then sunny-boy."_

"_Amen!"_

_As the two ventured off to Ichiraku ramen shop, determined to enjoy a couple of dishes of ichiraku's finest courses, each took notice of the hostility directed toward Naruto. Icily cold glares attempted to freeze the boy in place, and if it wasn't that then they just outright turned their backs on him to pretend like he wasn't even there. But Yoshirou could hear the subtle whispers coming from the cause of Naruto's loneliness._

_Yoshirou sighed as he and Naruto continued to near Ichiraku Ramen shop. He didn't blame them. They were just looking for a target to vent their hatred onto in the form of harsh glares, and Naruto was the unfortunate victim due to what lied in his gut. It was an unfortunate burden the boy had to carry until his grave. _

_Eventually, the two reached a small hut where Naruto grumpily walked underneath the flaps with Yoshirou lifting one up to follow the little boy inside. _

"_Ah. Welcome friend. I-." The owner of Ichiraku ramen shop went on to welcome the two who'd just walked in only to stop himself glancing at the old man who sauntered in with his best customer, "Ah, hello, Yoshirou. It's nice to see that you could pop back in here again friend."_

"_Indeed Teuchi. I decided to bring a friend with me as well after I met him by.- Well say a comforting place." Yoshirou lied, his old friend shaking his head at him before turning to look at Naruto. _

"_Hello, Naruto-kun! I see you met my good friend Yoshirou." Teuchi said with a grandfatherly smile on his face._

_Naruto's gaze shifted to the old man wearing white clothes made for a chef, "You know this old geezer, gramps?"_

_Teuchi laughed wholeheartedly, "Yeah! I've known Yoshirou since we were kids."_

"_Whoa! Old farts like you two were actually kids first!" Teuchi and Yoshirou both chuckled at the boy's childish ignorance while a cute brown haired girl came sauntering to the counter having heard the voice of young Naruto. _

"_Oh Naruto-chan, you're so silly! We're all going to grow old someday, sweetie!" The girl said perkily. _

_Naruto looked at the girl with his arms folded over his chest, "Really, Ayame-neechan? 'Cause I always figured I would be young forever or something. I dunno what I would look like If I grew up to be an old geezer." Naruto took that moment to envision himself as an old man, mentally cringing at the image of himself being old but giving a thumbs-up to open-air._

_Ayame giggled sweetly, "Well of course not Naruto-chan. No one knows what they're going to look like when they grow up, but that's the beauty of growing up, being amazed at the kind of adult you turned into, and looking at the memories of your past to reminisce about them." Yoshirou nodded his head, impressed at the young girl's maturity while Teuchi smirked proudly. _

"_Well I guess I'll find out. I have to grow up If I wanna be the Hokage of this village." Naruto replied, climbing up on one of the eight stools next to the counter. A saddened expression then came to his face. "'Cept I dunno if I can be Hokage though."_

"_Awww. Why do you think that you can't be the ruler of this village, Naruto-chan? I think you'd make a great leader with training!" Ayame said enthusiastically, hating the look on her self-proclaimed baby brother's face. Ever since the boy had started coming here she couldn't get enough of him. He was just so cute to leave alone. One time Ayame went from behind the counter, sat on a stool, picked up Naruto, sat the boy on her lap, and fed the boy his ramen. _

_Cute boys like Naruto should be cherished not scorned._

"_I won't be able to pass that stupid exam by the looks of it." Naruto complained. A shadow was casted over Yoshirou's eyes, his experience clearly showing. The man remembered his own time in the academy, and all the highs and lows learning his trade brought for him. He could remember well enough how some of his more unfortunate friends/fellow classmates failed the exam due to a particular reason._

"_Oh Naruto-chan. You should have more faith in yourself. I betcha if you believed in yourself more you could easily pass the exam no problemo!" Ayame told him optimistically. _

"_I dunno," Naruto frowned increasingly, causing Ayame to pout at him while Yoshirou sat down next to him. Naruto looked at the old man once he placed his hand on his shoulder. _

"_Do you believe you won't be able to graduate because of your inability to be perform the Bunshin no Jutsu?" Yoshirou asked to Naruto's shock._

"_Yeah, but how did ya know that old man?" Naruto asked. _

_Yoshirou smiled sagely, "I'll have ya know I was once your age too sunny-boy. I've seen many aspiring shinobi weeping because they couldn't perform the Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto scrunched up his face in exasperation._

"_But why can't I perform such a stupid ass jutsu? I'm the great Naruto-sama for crying out loud!" Naruto cried out haughtily, Ayame cooing at her baby brother's arrogance which she thought was really adorable. _

_Yoshirou crossed his arms and took on a thoughtful look of an veteran warrior who seen far too many battles, "Well, sunny-boy, those who struggle with the Bunshin no Jutsu are conveniently, in your case, more prominent."_

"_Whaddya mean by that old geezer?" Naruto asked with a confused look on his face. _

"_Chakra."_

"_Chakra?"_

"_Yes. The Bunshin no Jutsu only requires a pinch of chakra to do, those with massive amounts of chakra find it increasingly difficult to manipulate a little bit of their chakra to pull off a jutsu which takes a minimum amount of chakra to perform. They usually end up overloading their clones, resulting in it looking all deformed. Not a pretty sight indeed sunny-boy." Yoshirou explained to the arrogant-boy, Naruto's eyes widening with hope filling them. _

"_You mean I have a big supply of chakra old man and that's why I can't do the stupid Bunshin no Jutsu?"_

"_That's the gist of it."_

"_Badass! I knew I was awesome. The great Naruto-sama is above y'all!"_

"_Oh Naruto-chan! I always knew you were special." Ayame chimed in, reaching over the counter to kiss Naruto on his nose to which the haughty boy pouted at her, causing her to kiss him again in a cheeky manner. Teuchi laughed at the boy who tried to wipe away the kisses his daughter had given him._

_Once the kisses Ayame had placed on Naruto were gone a look of annoyance was on his face as Ayame grinned cheekily at him, licking her lips as if saying she was just waiting for another chance to smack a kiss on him. _

_Naruto turned to the old man with a helpless expression on his face, "So old geezer how do you suppose I control my 'catra' or whatever better to do that damned Bunshin no Jutsu?"_

"_Don't the academy instructors teach you about chakra control and concentration sunny-boy?" Yoshirou asked Naruto, finding a frown making its way to Naruto's face. _

"_Sheesh. No! All Iruka-sensei bitches about is me, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji dozing off 'cause we lack concentration, yadda, yadda, I ain't no professor, damn it! I'm a ninja! But no, he wants me to hold some stupid ass leaf on my head and whatnot!" Naruto ranted wittily, the old man looking at him disappointingly to what he summed up as Naruto's laziness to not want to do the tedious work to enhance his chakra control._

"_Naruto-chan!" Ayame scolded the boy for his use of language._

"_What? It's true Ayame-neechan!" Naruto whined._

"_Even so, there's no need to curse so much." Ayame chided the boy, making Teuchi hum an impressed noise at the way she handled her surrogate baby brother. Naruto pouted. _

"_Fine." Naruto backed down grumpily, causing a victorious smile to spread across Ayame's face before Naruto stared at the old man who had a look of contemplation on his old wrinkly face. "So, old man, you can see my problem here. Right?"_

"_You require assistance in gaining some semblance of control over your chakra?" Yoshirou asked._

"_Right! I hope to have just enough control of my great power so I can perform a couple of badass techniques!" Naruto chirped excitedly, Ayame gigging at his optimistic attitude. "So you think you could help me get better old man?"_

"_I could." Yoshirou agreed to which got Naruto hopeful. "Only on one condition though."_

"_Oh. Well Okay. What's the condition?" Naruto asked. He would accept any condition if it meant getting his own personal trainer to assist him in getting stronger to prove to all the douchebags, except his beautiful sister Ayame, Teuchi, and Hiruzen the Hokage, that he could make something out of himself and gain their acknowledgement._

"_You have to be fully dedicated to my training program. No lacking off you hear me? For I only have patience for those who want to be winners, and not losers, sunny-boy. If you're gonna step under my wing, then I don't want to hear any bellyaching from you no matter how intense the training gets. You must be willing to put your heart and soul into every exercise I set for you. Is that understood?" Yoshirou dished out seriously._

_Naruto stared at the old man in shock, suddenly feeling butterflies in his stomach at the man's change in demeanour from a laid back old man to a sudden strict dude at the tip of a hat. But the boy would swallow his nerves if it meant he could get stronger to become the Hokage and gain the acknowledgement of the villagers._

"_Yes." Naruto assured resolutely, and Yoshirou smiled proudly at him. _

"_Then we celebrate your apprenticeship to me with two bowls of ramen." _

"_Alright! You're the best old man ever! Hey, other old man, two bowls of your finest barbecue pork ramen! It's on him!"_

"_Haha!" Yoshirou laughed._

"_Coming right up, Naruto-kun!"_

"_I can't wait to see how strong my Naruto-chan will be once he graduates."_

"_Really strong, and that's a promise Ayame-neechan!"_

_Ayame smiled at Naruto. She didn't have any doubt in her mind that Naruto would become a truly splendid shinobi._

XxX

"Naruto, wake up!"

"Aaaaaaah!" A twelve year old Naruto screamed instinctually. Opening his eyes, he realized he was outside in a hallway sitting on one of three seats with a pink haired girl angrily glaring at him for some reason while a black haired boy stood up in front of him with a look of annoyance on his face.

Twelve year old Naruto's attire was very much changed since he met his perverted tutor and surrogate grandfather Yoshirou. He now wore a white vest top underneath an orange dress shirt which had a red swirl mark neatly embedded on the back of the shirt, blue jeans, a kunai holster on his right leg, a pair of orange sunglasses over his eyes, and orange sandals on his feet.

He had trained immensely since that day. He didn't have a choice. His master was very strict when it came to his training and always made sure he trained until he could sweat no more. It wasn't until a week in his training when he came across his surrogate brother, another lone-wolf of Konoha. For his own reasons, the boy allowed Yoshirou to take him under his wing and turn him into a strong ninja. Naruto felt jealous of his brother, because he seemed to advance further in his training.

Sometimes Naruto believed that his master shown favouritism toward his brother, because he taught him more stylish taijutsu-styles while just being a guiding light for Naruto to follow. When questioned by Naruto of this, Yoshirou informed him that he himself was more comparable with his brother than Naruto, to which made Naruto exasperated until Yoshirou promised him he'd do everything in his power to see to it that Naruto didn't fall behind his brother.

Yoshirou, to his credit, seemingly kept to his word since Naruto doggedly trained as hard as he could to keep up with his adoptive brother.

But despite his envy of his brother's ridiculous growth rate Naruto loved him like the brother he never had.

"Oh. Hey, Sasuke-chan. You finished the exam already?" Naruto asked his adoptive brother, Sasuke Uchiha of the nearly extinct Uchiha clan barring two members, one of which wasn't even living within the high walls of Konohagakure no Sato, so that made Sasuke the last loyal Uchiha of Konoha.

"Hmph." Sasuke let out. Sasuke was a boy who had black spiky hair and onyx coloured eyes. He wore a white vest top underneath a black dress shirt that had his clan's symbol of a white and red fan embedded on the back of the shirt, black posh trousers, black sandals, a kunai holster on his right leg, and a gold chain wrapped around his neck. Most noticeable item on Sasuke's person which caught Naruto's eye since he was sure Sasuke didn't have it on him before he disappeared into the classroom was a blue headband clutched in Sasuke's grip.

The headband had a silver template stitched onto it with a leaf insignia engraved into the middle of the template.

Sasuke held up his headband in calm indifference. "Pay attention. I went in there for a minute and already you were fast asleep the time I got out."

"Really? Hehe. Guess I got bored bouncing anxiously for you to finish so I could go in here already, dattebayo. Hey, how long were you in for anyway, Sasuke-chan?" Naruto questioned his adoptive brother.

"Don't know." Sasuke shrugged. "Thirty seconds, maybe."

"Damn that quick eh." Naruto grinned, rubbing his nostrils with his index finger, standing up and stretching out his sore limbs from the intensive training his master put him and Sasuke through, "The old fart needs to loosen the screws on our training regimes! I can barely damn near walk much less run after getting through one of 'em torture sessions, dattebayo!"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"Sasuke-chan doesn't struggle doing easy push-ups, Naruto-san!" The pink haired girl screeched in defence of her crush. Two green sexy orbs narrowed dangerously at Naruto, long exotic pink hair fall to her back, and a blue headband was neatly wrapped over her head to show off her beautiful abnormal forehead. A red dress with a white circle on it fell just past the girl's knees, underneath the dress was a pair of biker shorts to save her decency in case a sneaky someone had the boldness to lift up her dress, a pair of blue sandals was on her feet and a kunai holster was wrapped around her smooth left leg.

"Hn."

"Guess so," Naruto smirked, a glint of mischievousness shining in his eye. 'If Sakura-chan thinks the old fart's _real _training regime's that easy, then she's in for a world of surprise with her good-looking self,' Naruto thought. The opening of the door directed the duo of newly fresh ninjas and would-be one to it.

A head of brown spiky hair poked itself out of the door, "Naruto Uzumaki! Please step into the examination room this instant! It's your turn to take the exam." The man had tan skin with a scar running across the bridge of his nose and his hair was tied back in a ponytail. The leaf headband was proudly displayed on his forehead along with his green flaked jacket, navy blue pants, a kunai holster on his right leg, and blue sandals on his feet.

Naruto rolled his arm in a circular motion, "I hear ya loud and clear, Iruka. I betcha can't wait until I'm outta your hair, right dude?"

"You couldn't be more right." Iruka deadpanned, having got many mind-grains caused by the insolent boy's trouble-making ways. Naruto wouldn't even call him sensei since Naruto had long time surpassed him in all categories, but even still he was proud of Naruto for making it this far like he was with the rest of Naruto's year group.

Iruka sighed with a smile on his features, "Hurry up, Naruto. We don't have all day now." Iruka walked into the classroom leaving the door to the classroom open.

"Roger." Naruto grinned, looking at Sakura which made the newly promoted kuroichi scoff cutely, fold her arms over her chest, and turn away from the boy, "You gonna wish me luck Sakura-chan?"

"I'm not talking to you until you grow up, Naruto-san!" Sakura yelled indignantly, blinking once Naruto disappeared as if he wasn't even there.

A cold breeze penetrated the back of Sakura's legs, letting her know exactly where Naruto had chosen to sprint to, and raging furiously at his decision to go there since he did it to her every day since turning eleven.

That was lifting up her dress and complimenting her rear-end.

"But you just spoke to me moments before Sakura-chan." Naruto quipped, his hand holding up the back of Sakura's dress while the girl fumed, fists clenching so tight her nails threatened to break her skin. Naruto's eyes lecherously enjoyed the view of Sakura's ass, despite the misfortune of her biker shorts being in the way, "Speaking of growing up, is it just me or did you get a nice ass?"

The sound of skin colliding against skin sounded out through the air, making Sasuke sigh in exasperation while Sakura raged mightily, 'Stupid old man.' Sasuke blamed his and Naruto's perverted sensei for why Naruto became such a pervert. Children, especially ones who didn't have a parent or family to begin with, will often copy those around them because they believed it was the cool thing to do.

It also didn't help that Yoshirou encouraged Naruto and Sasuke to embrace their perverted natures.

"You pervert!" Sakura screamed, spinning around to slap Naruto, but the boy effortlessly dodged her, laughing goofily as he slowly advanced toward the classroom, "Come back here and take your beating like a man Naruto-san!" Naruto's response was to casually hightail it into the classroom, leaving Sakura fuming to Sasuke, "He's always behaving like this, never improving!"

Sasuke chuckled a little as a smirk came to his face.

"Yeah. I doubt he'll ever change."

XxX

As Naruto danced on into the wide room with brown tiled flooring, he grinned in mocked innocence at seeing the exasperated look on Iruka's face as he sat next to a meekly looking white haired, pale-skinned man known as Mizuki who was clad in the same uniform as Iruka. Both of the chunin instructors were sat in front of a desk with multiple leaf village headbands all lined up for any would-be genin lucky enough to pass the examination.

"Sup Iruka, are the kiddings bugging ya again?" Naruto asked cheekily.

"You know what's bothering me, so don't get smart with me Naruto." Iruka commanded sternly, Naruto droning while blinking his eyes in faked confusion.

"Not sure I know what you mean doc." Naruto's grin turned outright toothily, his front teeth visible to Iruka and Mizuki. Iruka groaned, massaging his temples with his two fingers. Seriously, he was happy for the boy, really he was, since in a way Naruto reminded him a little bit of himself when he was his age, but his constant trolling could be irritating.

"Oh really, because Sakura-san screaming says otherwise Naruto," Iruka challenged, not wanting to give in to the jokester that was Naruto and admit that the jokester had him annoyed because he would just come back in his spare time and do it all over again. It didn't help his cause knowing that Naruto was stronger than him like two of the boy's fellow delinquents in Kiba and Chouji, and his brother Sasuke. Honestly, how do three slackers surpass him when only one of Iruka's upstanding students with a perfect attendance surpassed him.

The others were close to Iruka's level but only Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, and Chouji had exceeded him due to their specialty in speed and strength. And only one of them actually came into the academy while the rest came kept on skipping class with the other delinquent-boy known as Shikamaru.

Naruto's face displayed shock, his mouth opening wide, and his hands clamping onto the sides of his whiskered cheeks, "Really? Someone made Sakura-chan scream?" At this, a feral smirk crossed his features, "Well I guess it's that day of the week again, eh." Naruto quipped with a look on his face which just begged Iruka and Mizuki to take the bait.

Iruka resisted the temptation for both him and Mizuki but the latter could see that the former was straining to do so as the seconds which felt like hours to them ticked on, while Naruto just grinned at them. Eventually, the white haired man let out a sigh and decided to bite.

"Okay, what day of the we-."

"Garbage day, bitch!" Naruto roared energetically, cutting off Mizuki who sheepishly smiled at Iruka who had veins all over his face complete with a twitching eyebrow, "Hehe. Anyone who bothers Sakura-chan has already booked themselves an appointment to see the doctor of pain. Dattebayo."

Iruka sighed in frustration. He knew that Naruto and his family were good friends with Sakura and her family after the boy had protected her from a couple of bullies when they were younger.

"Oh give him a break Iruka-kun. It is his last day, and besides, I think it's nice how he wants to look after his friends," Mizuki cut the blond rude-boy some slack to which got him a thumbs-up from Naruto, but a shake of the head from Iruka.

"You're too soft Mizuki-kun," Iruka said, causing his dear friend from their childhood to smile in awkwardness at him. Iruka coughed twice into his hand, regaining his composure to point at the set of headbands on the table. "Anyway, Naruto, you must perform three clones in order to gain your headband and become a leaf shinobi of Konoha." Iruka sent a look at Naruto, masking his worry with a stern look. Out of all the basic techniques Iruka taught to his former students, he knew this one was not Naruto's forte.

Throughout his time in the academy, he was the only one who couldn't perform it. He honestly doubted that Naruto could pull it off today of all days.

"Yeah, whatever," Naruto groused lackadaisically, still hating this cursed jutsu despite his years of training underneath a retired jonin of Konoha. Luckily, he had an ace in the hole for this moment.

As Naruto adjusted himself in a stance, both of his legs spread apart like a cowboy while he held his hands up in the ram-sign, he missed the malevolent smirk which crossed the seemingly good-natured Mizuki's face.

'There's no way the demon-brat will be able to do such a simple jutsu. He lacks the talent for it. Hehe. He'll be my piece to use once this is all over.' Mizuki managed to keep his humble façade under wraps by breathing deeply, as if he were really worried for Naruto not successfully making three illusions of himself to pass the exam and become a ninja of Konoha.

"Ahhhhh." Naruto flared up his chakra, an aura of blue blazing around his body, causing his hair and clothes to waver like a mini fan had been switched on, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)**." Immediate shock expressions of the highest caliber found their ways to Mizuki and Iruka's faces, as they simultaneously yelled out –

"WHAT?!"

Smoke erupted from Naruto, concealing his view from the two stunned instructors.

'H-How? It's not possible! There's no way the fox-child could have a jutsu of that… magnitude.' Mizuki mused, gaping at the scene like Iruka. Once the smoke cleared up, three solid clones of Naruto were among the original all smirking and giving the chunin-instructors peace-signs.

"How low can I go?" A Naruto, probably the real one, asked in a haughtily manner, confusing Mizuki.

"Wha-?"

"'Cause I slithered underneath that loophole!" All three Narutos shouted cheerfully, a smile coming to Iruka's face at the ingenious thinking of Naruto to get around his weakest jutsu by learning a stronger version of it.

"Well I'll be damned. So you actually figured out a way to pass, good work Naruto," Iruka praised, making Naruto and his clones smirk while Mizuki gawked at him.

"Iruka you can't be serious! With all due respect the other academy students all made three illusions, not solid clones of themselves; it isn't fair to the others." Mizuki argued his point. No, the demon-child couldn't pass. He needed him for his plans, Naruto just had to fail. For him!

"Huh? Has your noggin turned to mincemeat or something? I can't do the Bunshin no Jutsu, I have too much chakra for that. Me attempting to do the Bunshin no Jutsu is like filling up a tiny cup with a big bottle of coke." Naruto quipped to Mizuki's ever growing annoyance. "It's just not gonna happen 'cause you'd just end up overfilling the tiny cup with coke, thus spilling it over and making a mess."

'Clever dick.' Mizuki growled internally, struggling not to gnash his teeth at the smart-mouthed boy.

"Besides, the rules of the exam are stated as, 'one must make three _clones _to pass'. It doesn't specifically state which kind of clones a student has to make in order to pass the exam." Iruka said in defence of Naruto using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu as a substitute for its weaker counterpart.

"But Iru-."

"Give it a rest will ya." Naruto said, surprising Mizuki and Iruka as he surged next to the desk faster than anyone of them could blink. Naruto grinned smugly at the gawks on Iruka's and Mizuki's faces from seeing his speed before he grabbed a headband off of the table and casually lifted it off of the table. "You should be rejoicing man. The Show-off, Number One Unpredictable, Noisy Ninja Naruto Uzumaki is finally outta the house."

"Well I guess that's one positive thing to look at." Iruka smiled while Naruto nodded, pivoting on his heels to bounce goofily out of the room, "Wait Naruto! Before you go, could you tell us how you were able to master a B-rank jutsu in the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It's a dangerous jutsu, not something a newly promoted genin should be wielding."

"Old man Hokage will fill ya in on the details," Naruto promised, not ceasing his stride and sounding very much like he didn't care. His word made an incredulous expression appear on Mizuki's face as he didn't quite believe that Hokage-sama would give the boy such a jutsu in order for him to pass the exam.

"Hokage-sama? Naruto, what do you mean by Hokage-sama will explain everything to us? Surely you can't be telling us that Hokage-sama gave you the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu just so you could make it to genin-rank. That's preposterous!" Mizuki stressed.

"Preposterous? Tell that to my ass, 'cause it's the only one who gives a shit." Naruto quipped with a casual wave of his hand over his shoulder, receiving a flinch from Mizuki before the boy sauntered out of the class.

"That Naruto, he really thought outside of the box to pass this exam." Iruka said to Mizuki with a smile on his face while the chunin in question mentally stressed, "Wouldn't you agree Mizuki-kun?" Mizuki let out a gasp, seemingly forgetting that Iruka was talking to him. He quickly straightened his composure.

"Yeah. He's full of surprises."

XxX

As Naruto waltz on out of the classroom with his newly required headband and hands stuffed into his pockets, his monkey instincts alerted him to the danger closing in on his left side. Fast. His hand shot up, effortlessly ensnaring the smooth leg with a wonderful fragrance coming off of it as if it were child's play.

"You gotta step your game up, Sakura-chan, if you wanna nail me." Naruto jeered, turning his head to the side to see a pouting Sakura with her leg still up from the kick she had attempted to hammer Naruto with since the boy still had a firm grip on her beautiful leg.

"Shut up, dummy! I told you that I'd beat some sense into your block head!" Sakura yelled and Naruto chortled. Sakura flinched as she began to feel a tingle run up her leg, warming up her leg like igniting two sticks by rubbing them together, "Stop feeling up my leg, pervert!" Sakura demanded, struggling to shake off Naruto's lewd massage by hopping up and down, and wriggling her hips to the side.

"Whoa, hold still Sakura-chan." Naruto simply released his hold on Sakura's leg, causing the girl to fall onto her backside from the momentum of trying to break free from Naruto's hold and suddenly finding her leg free without having broken the hold. "Woops. You okay, Sakura-chan?"

"Jerk." Sakura mumbled, rubbing her rear-end while Sasuke sighed from where he sat patiently on one of the seats waiting for Naruto to hurry up and pass.

"Hey, what'd I do? You were the one hopping around like a one-legged lady, Sakura-chan." Sakura glared angrily at Naruto's cheeky grin, Sasuke caressing his forehead in annoyance as he stood up to his feet and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Hn. I'm guessing Iruka and Mizuki were shocked to see your use of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, eh Naruto." The stoic Uchiha said and Naruto rubbed his nostrils with his index finger while the pink haired kuroichi hopped to her feet with her hands on her hips.

"You may have the reserves to make all those clones, Naruto-san, but Sasuke-chan and I have the control that you don't have. So there." Sakura stuck her tongue out at Naruto.

"Who cares? I may be able to use my killer jutsus less, but that's minor, 'cause they pack enough power in 'em to make things go ka-boom!" Naruto resorted cheerfully, folding his arms behind his head.

"Well I guess that's true." Sakura agreed, "You know something, you can be pretty awesome when you want to be Naruto-san. Way to go learning such a high ranking jutsu. I wouldn't have believed you could obtain a jutsu like that if I didn't see it for myself," Sakura sighed, "I guess I underestimated you."

"Awww, shucks, Sakura-chan. It's nuthin' that the great Naruto-sama couldn't accomplish. Haha. I'm one step closer to owning this village! Old man Hokage will be getting his ass booted off of his throne in no time at all!" Naruto declared thunderously, Sakura frowning at the boy's arrogance.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"Yeah Sasuke-chan, what is it man?" Naruto asked.

"Time to roll." Sasuke told his brother-in-training calmly.

"Home? Alright! The old geezer said he'll treat us to ramen if we both passed the graduation exam! And we did!" Naruto grinned widely, "I can't wait to show him our headbands!" Naruto pulled out his headband. "He's gonna be so proud of us." Naruto giggled at the prospect of gaining his master's praise. "Oh, and maybe he can stitch this leaf template onto an orange cloth, 'cause orange is a badass colour."

"Hn. I only need mine sewed onto a black one since I wear mostly black clothing." Sasuke said. "Blue would look out of place on me." A light bulb appeared on Sakura's head as she rushed up to Sasuke with a bright pink tinge on her cheeks, holding her hands together.

"Oh I can do that for you Sasuke-chan." Sakura blushed.

Sasuke looked at the girl with a lifted eyebrow, but Sakura only offered a nod of verification to let him know she would do that for him to gain his recognition. So, Sasuke, needing his template stitched on a black cloth regardless of who did it for him, shrugged his shoulders, "Okay."

Sakura squealed joyously, "Hurrah!" Sakura eagerly took Sasuke's headband off of him once the boy brought it out of his pocket and handed it to her, "Thank you Sasuke-chan! I promise you I won't let you down! I'll see to it that this is returned to you by tomorrow, shannaro!"

"See to it that you do." Sasuke suggested. Sakura nodded her head and happily skipped off down the hall-way, on cloud nine that she could do something to make her prince charming happy, "Hn. Come." Sasuke said to his brother, turning to him and gaining a look of annoyance on his face from the teasing look on Naruto's face, "Tch. What are you looking at?"

"Oh 'nuthin much, just that you like girls."

"Tch, spare me the melodramatics, like I have time to waste on fan-girls."

Sasuke begin what would eventually be his and Naruto stride home leaving the boy grinning to himself for a brief moment.

"Whatever you say, Sasuke-chan."


End file.
